Treatment of yarns



1960 R. H. SPEAKMAN 2,955,409

TREATMENT OF YARNS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 2,955,409 TREATMENT or YARNS Raymond Holden Speakman, Harrogate, England, assignor to Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, Millbank, London, England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Oct. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 769,334 Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 25, 1957 1 5 Claims. (11. 51-345 This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the treatment of yarns and filaments.

In our British patent specification 643,625 we claim an improved apparatus for the production or treatment of a yarn or filament which is collected continuously on a receiving package. The receiving package is normally a bobbin mounted upon a spindle. The improved apparatus described in said British patent specification generally comprises a suction tube fitted near to the receiving package, and on the opposite side of such package from the source of the yarn or filament. At the outset of the collecting operation the yarn or filament is passed into the tube. When stable operating conditions are attained, i.e., when the yarn or filament at the receiving package is uniform,the yarn or filament is brought-either manually or by means of an entrainiment deviceinto contact with the receiving package. The yarn or filament is then severed or broken, the severed length thereof being deposited in a waste collection box, and the succeeding yarn or filament passing from the source is collected continuously on the bobbin or other receiving package.

We have found in practice when entraining yarns or filaments to be wound onto bobbins using the suction tube described above, that quite long lengths of yarn are withdrawn through the suction tube from the waste collection box and are deposited on the spindle whorl. These deposited yarns and filaments are rubbed by the driving belt and generate fly yarn, cause drive belt instability, reduce spindle speed and necessitate frequent machine stoppages for clearing the wraps.

Non-return suction guns, through which the yarn can pass in one direction only, have been tried in order to overcome the difficulties caused by the yarns being drawn back onto the spindle whorl, but the entrainment operation then becomes rather uncertain since the nonreversal characteristics cause a severe snatch at entrainment and may cause the yarn to break before properly entrained.

We have now found that these objections can be overcome by providing a source of slack yarn so that the snatch upon entrainment is cushioned sufficiently to allow the yarn to wind onto the receiving packages before a controlled break in the yarn is made. The tail of yarn withdrawn from the suction tube is thus prevented from becoming long enough to be wound onto the spindle whorl to an excessive degree.

According to our invention we provide an apparatus for the production or treatment of yarn or filaments wherein a yarn or filament is collected continuously on a receiving package by means of a suction tube fitted near to the receiving package and on that side of the package distant from the source of the yarn or filament. The yarn or filament is passed into this tube until stable operating conditions are attained, when'it is brought into contact with the receiving package. The delivery end of the suction tube leads substantially tangentially into a chamber of right cylindrical section, which has an outlet tube olfset to the suction tube and leading from the chamber. When a stream of air for entraining the yarnis passed through the suction tubeinto the chamber and out via the outlet tube, the yarn'being'conveyed by the stream of air forms at least one loop inside the chamber before leaving via the outlet tube. A yarn cutting means is located within said chamber .at the end of the suction tube.

In our invention a cutting edge is provided'around the tip of the inlet tube. We have found, however, that when the yarn is cut by this method, the cut sometimes takesthe form of a' tear, producing a'ragge'd tail of yarn. A

way of overcoming this difiiculty and producing a precise cut is to provide a guide located withinthe-charnber so that when the yarn forms a loop in the chamber the-loop of-yarn encloses the guide. 2 "It is preferred that the guide should comprise a cylinder around the outside of which is a spiral groove, said cylinder having a sliding fit within the chamber. When the yarn is pulled out against the air stream during entrainment, the loop contracts around the guide causing a rise in yarn tension between the cutting edge of the inlet tube and the guide. This increase in tension is sufiicient to cut the yarn.

The attached drawings illustrate but do not limit our invention. Figure 1 is a partially diagrammatic view of a yarn collection apparatus according to the instant invention; Fig. 2 represents an enlarged side elevation view, rotated 90, of the apparatus seen at the lower right in Fig. 1, with the chamber in section to show the guide therein; and Fig. 3 is a section through line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to Figure 1, yarn 6 is shown passing in the direction of the arrow through a guide 10 from a source (not shown), such as a drawing or heat treating apparatus, to a collection device, illustratively a bobbin 12 keyed in the usual manner to a spindle 14. An entrainment disc 20 is provided at the lower end of bobbin 12. The yarn 6 passes through the traveler 16 of the ring 18,

and at the outset of the operation is received (as shown .after is collected upon bobbin 12.

According to this invention a closed cylindrical chamber 3, best seen in Figures 2 and 3, is mounted beneath suction tube 1. This tube and a second tube 2 project into chamber 3 and said tubes lie in separate planes perpendicular to the axis of the chamber. The tube 1 enters the chamber 3 substantially tangentially. A cylindrical guide 4 with a spiral groove 5 fits within the chamber and extends from the end of the chamber near tube 2 to the edge of the tube 1. The spiral groove 5 terminates at the entrance to tube 2 from the chamber 3. A length of yarn 6 is shown passing through the apparatus, the arrow heads indicating the direction of yarn movement before entrainment takes place. A cutting edge 7 is ground on the mouth of the tube 1.

The end of tube 1 protruding from the chamber is attached to or integral with the delivery end of an air air stream and yarn pass into spiral groove 5, and leave via Patented Oct. -11,' 1960 a receiving. package for collecting the yarn when stable conditions are attained and an air-suction tube through which the yarn is passed until stable conditions are attained, the suction tube being mounted adjacent the package on the side thereof distant from the source of yarn;

a generally cylindrical chamber having two openings therein, the delivery end of said suction tube communicating with the chamber through one of said openings, an outlet tube communicating with the chamber through the other of said openings, said tubes being relatively ofiset and the suction tube entering the chamber substantially tangentially so that yarn conveyed by the air passing through the chamber from the suction tube to the outlet tube makes at least one loop in the chamber, and a yarncutting means located within said chamber.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the cutting means comprises a cutting edge around the tip of the suction tube.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein a guide is located within the chamber, so that when the yarn forms a loop in the chamber the loop of yarn encloses the guide.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the guide comprises a cylinder having a spiral groove about its periphery. v

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the cylinder diameter is slightly less than the inner diameter of the chamber, so that there is a sliding fit between the 10 cylinder and chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 15 2,617,603 Griset Nov. 11, 1952 2,706,089 Griset Apr. 12, 1955 2,796,724 Iaros June 25, 1957 2,844,859 Griset July 29, 1958 

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS COLLECTION OF YARN OR THE LIKE FROM A SOURCE, SAID APPARATUS INCLUDING A RECEIVING PACKAGE FOR COLECTING THE YARN WHEN STABLE CONDITIONS ARE ATTAINED AND AN AIR-SUCTION TUBE THROUGH WHICH THE YARN IS PASSED UNTIL STABLE CONDITIONS ARE ATTAINED, THE SUCTION TUBE BEING MOUNTED ADJACENT THE PACKAGE ON THE SIDE THEREOF DISTANT FROM THE SOURCE OF YARN, A GENERALLY CYLINDIRICAL CHAMBER HAVING TWO OPENINGS THEREIN, THE DELIVERY END OF SAID SOURCE TUBE COMMUNICATING WITH THE CHAMBER THROUGH ONE OF SAID OPENINGS AN OUTLET TUBE COMMUNICATING WITH THE CHAMBER THROUGH THE OTHER OF SAID OPENINGS, SAID TUBES BEING RELATIVELY OFFSET AND SUCTION TUBE ENTERING THE CHAMBER SUBSTANTIALLY TANGETIALLY SO THAT YARN CONVEYED BY THE AIR PASSING THROUGH THE CHAMBER FROM THE SUCTION TUBE TO THE OUTLET TUBE MAKES AT LEAST ONE LOOP IN THE CHAMBER, AND A YARN CUTTING MEANS LOCATED WITHIN SAID CHAMBER. 